BatMan: Clowning Around
by RJ Morre
Summary: This the 2nd book to the BatMan series.It's Darcy's first day at a real school and Terry has the misfortune of protecting her from the horrors of high school and during their night job, but his job gets a whole lot harder when the children's night life crosses over to their daily lives of being regular teenagers at Hamlton High.
1. Prologue

**Episode 2 **

**Hope you like it and don't forget to review:)  
**

"Terminal, since both J-Man and Top Hat Joker have failed in their mission, I look to you, to inflect my legacy upon Gotham."

"You won't be disappointed," Terminal replied with a maniacal snicker as he left the darkness of the source of all clowns, suffering, and laughter that has haunted the streets of Gotham for generations. Terminal was one of the lead jokers like J-Man and Top Hat who had his own gang of loyal clown servants; however, what differentiated him from the rest of his head joker comrades was both his intelligent, determination, and costume. He wore white face paint and black face paint around his eyes and lips, and fake stitched wounds all over his body. He also wore a black long haired wig and an orange jumpsuit. He was a more serious joker that delighted in the same festivities as all the other jokers in senselessly bring devastation to all for just a cheap laugh, but he takes what he does to a different level one with more sense, more results, and more realistic schemes, which is the reason the top joker put so much insurance that he would be able to deliver despite the obstacles that may occur due to the sudden appearances of Gotham's new hero duo. With a bow to the almighty boss clown he walked out with his gang into the dark eeriness of Gotham's night.


	2. First Day Jitters

As the sun arose into a new day one in which normal children of all ages awake early to get ready for another week at school, and for the first time the child of Wayne Manner will be joining the rest in mourning another Monday morning. With the dreaded alarm clock blasting through the air proved to Bruce that getting Darcy intergraded into the school routine was going to be easier said than done as he stood at the door of her room bracing himself for the untold terrors that lay behind it. What he saw as he overrode Darcy's lock system to her door made him raise an eyebrow as he saw her halfway of the bed with the alarm clock pinned to the wall with a bat arrow smashed into it. He couldn't believe that it hasn't been up to a month since he gave Darcy the permission to put on the bat suit and he already regretted his decision, he thought as a huge sigh bellowed out of his mouth as another morning passed with Bruce thinking that he was way too old to be dealing with a child like Darcy especially since he spent every morning being assaulted by her attempts to get out of whatever her dad had planned for her at any time before twelve in the afternoon. After the daily threats, yelling, and fighting Darcy awoke slowly and begun to pick up pace as time passed to get herself ready for school, and to be honest she was just about as excited as someone going to the dentist to get teeth pulled. The only thing that got her moving to get ready was the curiosity to know what it was like to go into a building with hundreds of kids around her own age, since her dad enrolled her in Terry's grade so Terry could better keep an eye on her.

"Okay Ace, how do I look?" Darcy asked as she stood in front of the mirror wearing a red t-shirt that showed her mid-drift along with black skinny jeans as she put her long raven black hair into a high pony-tail. As she pondered over the final product of her hundredth change of clothes she approved with the notion that she knew her dad would disapprove, which was fine with her after all it wasn't like her dad could say he wasn't letting her out of the house in her outfit, after all they both knew it would be a dream come true for her especially since she was less of a day person than her dad. She finished her preparations by grabbing her school bag equipped with both school supplies, cell phone, and her bat suit before leaving her clothes covered room with Ace still trying to scavenger himself out of a pile of clothes.

"Good morning…" Bruce broke off as he saw his daughter walk into the kitchen with a displeased look pointed towards her as he looked over what Darcy was wearing. He could feel his daily migraine befalling upon him as his stare of disapproval was met with one of Darcy's most devilish smiles as she took a bite out of a piece of buttered toast. It was like whatever he did to keep her out of trouble and off his list of troublesome things to concern himself with she finds some way somehow to get herself back on the list and cause his concern to rise higher. "We agreed that you would dress appropriately."

"Dad I always keep my promise, but you got to lighten up I'm wearing clothes aren't I?"

"Now if only they covered every inch of you," Bruce retorted while staring at her exposed stomach with a raised eyebrow that received a shrug from Darcy as she finished her breakfast. With that Bruce dropped the subject knowing that arguing with her was neither progressive nor helping with his blood pressure, and also the fact that it was a miracle that she was even up this early. He noticed as Darcy waited at the table for Terry to pick her up for school that she was fidgeting in her chair, which was unheard of when addressing her after all she practically had nerves of steel. "Nervous?"

"Seriously? I have started evil in the face and laughed, I'm sure I can handle teenage drams and school work," Darcy replied with a glare at her dad that he would ever consider such a thing after all it couldn't be harder than fighting crime or even hacking into government data bases. Even though Darcy stood firm on the notion that she wasn't the least bit nervous, but deep down she could feel worry creeping up through her as she ran possible scenarios about how her day will go. The worst case scenario that ran through her mind sent her nerves on end as she pictured being totally isolated from everyone, which made her want to laugh at herself after all she practically lived her life in isolation, but that seemed like a different concept because at home she couldn't do anything about being alone so she had learned to except the fact a long time ago. Being isolated in a sea of people where she knew she didn't have to be alone seemed to her would cause unbearable feeling of loneliness one she didn't want to face, not ever. Her nerves were so shot by this concept that when the doorbell rang throughout the whole mansion it sent an electrifying jump through Darcy that she covered up by cool walking out of the kitchen hoping she could foul her dad, but then again she knew it was hopeless after all hardly anything got passed Bruce's all seeing eyes.

"Hey Darcy, ready for the first day?" Terry asked with a hesitant smile just to be greeted with an icy coldness, which was Darcy. Even though he had agreed to look after her for a very generous pay check while he is helping out around the house as part of his community service he could tell that she wasn't liking the whole idea of being protected by someone especially from a person she deemed incompetent in her mind. If it weren't for the fact that Mr. Wayne was paying him more than some of his employees with diplomas and degrees he might have quit in the first day of Darcy's reigning terror, he thought as he tried to causally fix up his look of a black t-shirt, long denim jeans, and brown leather jacket with the sight of Bruce Wayne coming towards the door behind his daughter.

"Let's get this over with," Darcy replied as she stepped out of the comfort of her home not wanting her true emotions about this day to show any more than they have. Bruce gave Terry a mischievous smile as he wished him good luck while mentioning that Terry should watch out because Darcy was in a biting mood, which made Terry's head sink in desperation because he knew as well as Bruce that when she got into a bad mood all hell might as well breakout.

"So are you nervous?" Terry asked causally in hopes to start off a conversation with Darcy as they walked in silence towards the subway station. Despite all the good will in his voice he was surprised to come face to face with a death glare that sent shivers to his very being. "Okay touchy subject, so why are you slaged?"

"Maybe cause you're here."

"Hey I got it, you don't like me, but deal with it cause I'm going nowhere."

"You got that right," Darcy replied with a sarcastic hint in her voice, which only led Terry further into trying to convince himself why in the world he still had this job protecting a girl he couldn't understand and that could hardly stand his very presence. The rest of the walk to the subway made less noise than the cool autumn breeze all around them. When they reached the subway it was completely different from what Darcy ever expected, but then again a lot has changed from the days of her dad's time she thought as she remembered back to one of Alfred's school sessions when he had taught her about the different ways of transportation, in which he deemed the subway the dirtiest and filthiest of all the possible vehicles that anyone could use. As she looked around at the square room that Terry had guided her to she saw comfortable looking orange seats large enough for everyone to have a seat and it even had a television to watch the news on. The only thing that Alfred's description was right about was that you could find the scum of Gotham using this mode of transportation, Darcy thought as a massive guy stepped through the doors of the subway just as it was closing to reveal a figure dressed as if he just came from a job working as a party clown, but here in Gotham not many kids enjoy clowns anymore not since the Joker from her dad's top villain list terrorized Gotham city. The clown was dressed in a full jester costume that was red with black stripes and he had his face painted completely white with exception to his noise that was covered up with a clown noise. The very sight of him strolling through the subway cart as if he owned the place only worsened Darcy mood. He walked until he reached the top of the subway cart and he whipped out a spray can of green paint and doodled something pointless across the wall just to turn around and bow as if he had done something so great that was worth a laugh from everyone in the subway cart.

"Thank you one and all however I don't hear anyone laughing," the joker stated as he raised his head from his bow just to see an entire subway cart filled with fear bearing people, which amused a maniacal chuckle out of the clown that grated at Darcy's very nerves to the point she could have knocked the guy's block off. The only thing keeping her from doing so was her rule that she doesn't start fights she can avoid. As the joker looked around dauntingly at all the people around him stopped wear both Darcy and Terry sat, he looked at them with curiosity and an amused interest as he wondered why out of all the people that were scared enough to wet themselves these two seem to be calm as if they were taunting him to do his worse, which he was more than happy to demonstrate.

"Hey girly how come you don't look scared?" the joker asked while raising Darcy's face towards his eye level just to be graced with eyes of defiance that surprised him slightly, but left a bigger smile across his face as he pictured of all things he could do to this girl to restore a look he loved to see in the face of all women and that was fear and terror.

"What's there to be scared about you're just a sad cry from the real thing, a wannabe, a fake," Darcy replied calmly as if she couldn't scenes the joker's growing rage of her insult, which made Terry sigh as he made a mental note never to get on Darcy's bad side if that was even possible.

"You must think you're so tough, huhn?"

"No I just hate clowns," Darcy answered as she smashed the guy across the face with a powerful blow of her fist that the joker barely saw coming. He quickly charged at Darcy, who defended herself and chucked him right out of the subway cart.

"Was that really necessary?"

"He was in my personal space," Darcy replied simply as she took her seat next to Terry. This was going to be one heck of a school year Terry thought as he tried to avoid eye contact with any of the other passengers, who were now looking upon them as some kind of superheroes, which wasn't too far off from the truth but he would like to that keep under wraps at least until he was finished with the whole thing like Bruce. The rest of their journey to school was dead silent as Terry wondered how he was going to keep his promise to Bruce in helping Darcy integrate into the student body of a public school system when Darcy had the personality of a grouchy porcupine. Hopefully something will work out, Terry prayed as they got off the subway to be faced with a large brown building with a sign that read Hamilton Hill High School after walking for a few minutes.

The place intrigued Darcy to a degree, but mostly brought her nerves further on end as she grew closer towards an unseen future that could either leave her in the cold or assure that she was accepted. All her nerves vanished as they went in to see a sea of teens walking around doing their own thing from talking to a few friends to getting ready for their first period. It dawned on Darcy that there wasn't anything to concern herself with after all they were just teens like her, well sure they had more experience in socializing with one another and they knew all the cool things to say or do, but deep down there wasn't much separating her from the average teen. She calmed herself and figured as long as she was herself than what was the worst that could happen? Probably the worst case scenario was hanging out with Terry for the rest of her exile to this horrible place, which didn't seem to bother Darcy too much with the fact that it gave her an excuse to further torture him if that was even possible.

"Welcome to Hamilton Hills High. What's first period?" Terry asked while taking a sheet from Darcy that she whipped out to see that her first subject was advanced cyber robotics, a class that only geeks and nerds of Hamilton Hills attend and by looking at how Darcy was dressed and how she acted Terry could tell that the nerd squad was about to get a rude awakening.

"So how does a girl with no background of formal education pick all the advance courses?" Terry asked as Darcy looked for her locker among the sea of the same looking green lockers with a small difference, which was the locker number. The very question registered in Darcy's mind as a stupid question one after all who did he think she was anyway an uneducated flunky like twenty five precent of the school population is probably facing? The mere thought grated at one of her nerves but she sucked it in after all until she knew how exactly to survive in this jungle called high school she better stay on Terry's good side at least one more percent than she used to.

"Well I thought if I was going to have to lower myself to the public school system I might as well pick easy courses," Darcy replied as she opened her locker that will be like her second home for the rest of the year. Like all Darcy's answers to his questions Terry deem them as another excuse just to poke fun at his IQ. As he watched Darcy stacking her text books into her locker he could hardly believe a girl that he would have a better time picturing on the cheerleading squad was doing advance nuclear physics along with bio chemistry just for electives. How can a girl like her come in the prefect packaging of beauty, nice body, and a presences of total mystery. In a word she was hot, but he couldn't think to long about how pretty she looked and how she didn't belong in any of the classes she had chosen, because Darcy was already walking away by the time he snapped out of his thought process.

"Hey Terry…whose she?" a girl with tan skin, pink spiky short hair, and wearing a yellow t-shirt with a black line going down it and black skinny jeans asked as she came up behind both Darcy and Terry on their way to Darcy's first class.

"Hey Max this is Darcy Wayne the new girl," Terry introduced just to be surprised to see Darcy crack an honest smile at Max that actually sent a friendly vibe, which Terry had deemed out of her capabilities, but then again he should know by now that there was a lot he didn't know about her, but out of the many things he still wondered about her he knew one thing for sure was to always expect the unexpected when it came to her.

"Well this is new for you, showing around the new girl, won't Dana be proud…anyway speaking of Dana she's looking for you," Max stated with a sly smile as she pointed towards a crowd of kids where Dana was wondering around looking for someone Terry could only guess was him.

"We can't keep Dana waiting so Max could you show Darcy to the advance cyber robotics room, I'm pretty sure that you have the same schedule so why don't you do me a favor and show her around for the rest of the day."

"But-"

"Thanks Max," Terry said quickly as he rushed over towards Dana's direction knowing the fact if Dana saw him paying too much attention to a girl that looked like Darcy she would probably misunderstand and get jealous, which was something he rather he not experience after managing to score the girl of his dreams. He vowed at that moment to do everything in his power to make sure they never met each other because if Dana ever found out that he was spending more time with Darcy than her it would be so over for his relationship status.

"So who's Dana, and why does she have Terry running around like dog on a very short leash," Darcy asked indifferently as she glanced at Dana hugging Terry when he caught her eye. Her eyebrow raised as the answer to her second question became clear.

"That's Dana Tan, Terry's loving girlfriend that I might add is the jealous type so we try not to lead her to any wild conclusions…but just for the record is there anything going on between you and Terry?"

"You're kidding me right?"

"Just making sure the boy has a track record of flirting," Max stated while she rolled her eyes with disdain at one of her best friends few flawed qualities. This news didn't faze Darcy after all she could already tell that he was the type never to be fully attainable from the first day she met him and to her she deemed Dana as wasting her time on him, but then again who was she to judge a relationship with no experience in ever being in one.

"Anyways the real question is what's a filthy rich heiress doing in the public school system?"

"A lot of budget cuts this year," Darcy answered passively to the point that Max got the point in which that matter wasn't up for debate, so she ended up switching topics to talk about brainy subjects like molecular biology and what software had a better capability to protect your data. Pretty soon they were both laughing and having a good time, and for the first time Darcy accepted another human being on her list of comrades and for once that person was under the legal drinking age. By the time they arrived inside the cyber robotics class the bell was ringing along with scurrying teens trying to make it to class on time. Before the class began the teacher brought Darcy to the front of the class and to Darcy's was surprised she was in a class filled with what her high school research described as geeks and nerds judging by the way they were dressed, but she wasn't the only one that was surprised the kids all around her broke into whispers as the teacher announced that she was a new transfer student named Darcy Wayne daughter of Bruce Wayne. Everyone could tell she was someone special especially seeing how excited the teacher was to have one of the most respectable men in Gotham's daughter in his classroom. To introduced herself she wave slightly with an even smaller smile that just made the whispering around the class louder as Mr. Chang sent Darcy back to her seat next to Max.

"Not use to being the center of attention?"

"Is it that obvious?" Darcy asked back with a slight snicker to herself that got Max smiling warmly at her new friend with the notion that she may prove to be a special friend to her. As the class droned on Max along with the rest of the class was putting Darcy under a new light as she spent the whole class looking like she was in her own world not even trying to paying attention even though she was doing a pretty good job in pretending to do so.

"How about we get Ms. Wayne to do the next question," Mr. Chang shimmed as if he couldn't wait to see how promising this rumored child of getting perfect scores on her entry exam really was.

"Do you want me to cover for you?" Max whispered just to be answered with a mischievous smile as she got up from her seat to head towards the tech board. As she grabbed the curser used for the board she took one glance at the question that the teacher wanted her to do, and wanted to laugh or at least yawn at the absolute simplicity of the question, but in the end she quietly and quickly completed the question not wanting to draw attention to herself. In the case of Darcy she soon found out that she might have to actually listen in class to keep with her goal of keeping a low profile, she thought as she glanced around the classroom just to see that both the teacher and students were stunned like they were staring at something out of this world.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"If you count using an advance theorem way beyond high school level to figure out the right answer to that question than yes," Max whispered back to Darcy who gave her an awkward smile as she sunk into her chair with her epic fail in keeping a low profile weighing heavy on her shoulder. I guess I'll have to lower myself to what Alfred taught me when I was thirteen, was what she thought as the class began again after her minor interruption. For the remainder of the morning Darcy tried very hard to dumb herself down at least to the level of the most intelligent kid in her class, but it seemed every time she opened her mouth she further amazed her fellow students and intrigued her new friend especially in second period in high level Spanish class when she read out a passage with a few purposely mispronounced words, but what got the teacher and the rest of the class so amazed was her perfect accent and with the speed she read the passage.

By lunch time Darcy was already dreading ever getting up this morning along with questioning herself how it could be even possible that her worst possible work trumped the smartest kid in her classes' work, which made her open her eyes to the fact that maybe fitting in was harder than just being herself especially when herself didn't exactly blend into the rest of the population of kids.

"Girl, are you sure you're supposed to be in high school?" Max teased as they entered the lunch room just to have the loud chatter that was common to the lunch room become whispers upon Darcy entering it.

"To be honest I'm even wondering that myself," Darcy answered with a sigh as both her and Max lined up to receive the good old cafeteria food. As the cafeteria lady slapped a few different slops on her tray Darcy played with the idea of testing the food with her cell phone to know whether the food was actually edible, but she soon put that at the back of her head knowing that she didn't need anything else differing her from the masses. Max guided Darcy towards the center table, which Darcy was guessing led to the small population that was vain and superficial who held all the power in the school the popular table filled to the brim with popular people, Terry included. As soon as Terry saw them approaching he tried to signal to Max to take Darcy somewhere else that was far away from Dana, but Max pretended she had no clue what he was signaling for so he looked to Darcy that gave him a look that questioned his sanity.

"Hey Max who's the new girl?" a boy with black short neatly combed hair, and had very light tan skin. The boy was wearing a white t-shirt, jeans, and a green and yellow jock jacket.

"Ladies and gents, this is Darcy Wayne the new transfer student," Max answered as she sat down with Darcy at the end of the table. Darcy rolled her eyes at her new friend for her over the top introduction that ended up putting her in the center of attention.

"Hi, I'm Chelsea Cunningham, and you're the mystery girl of Wayne Enterprises that suddenly showed up," a girl with short blond hair, ocean blue eyes, and pale skin stated as she reached out to Darcy to give her a handshake. At first Darcy just looked down at the out stretched arm wondering whether to shake it or not with the notion that the girl seemed like she might be a bother with her questions, but in the end she shook it with a forced smile still trying hard to keep up a polite and inviting attitude.

"My dad likes to surprise people," Darcy answered simply as she took a bit of what she figured was mash potatoes; however, it was a far cry from being any type of vegetable let alone potatoes, so she figured if she could survive lunch time talking to Terry's friends then she could dump her whole tray in the garbage without anyone criticizing her for wasting food.

"I heard a bunch of teachers and they said you got perfect scores on the entry test," Chelsea stated with a brimming smile as if she was the queen of gossip and she just stumbled across the news of the year or something.

"That's crazy the only one that's ever done that would be my man Carter here," Garrison added while giving his friend a good old pat across the back. Darcy approved of Chelsea's earlier statement just to have the rest of the table a little surprised as they looked at her appearance and where still trying to imagine her as a brainy geek, but they all ended up drawling blanks.

"Well with all her dad's money he probably paid for the best to teach her," Terry added to the conversation to make everyone better understand Darcy's situation, so she would fit in amongst his friends better after all she wasn't the only smart one in the group considering Carter, but he was only cool since he was a jock on the hockey team and was the best in everything he did.

"I'm pretty sure I saw you walking to school with McGinnis what's up with that scene?" a boy who Darcy guessed was a jock due to his overly muscular body and the fact that he was wearing the same jock jacket as Carter, asked as he put his arm over Chelsea's shoulder, which was a gesture Darcy read as him indicating to every male at the table that Chelsea was his property. With one look at the boy with orange hair and an overly smug face that she knew that she didn't like him maybe not as much as Terry who was glaring the boy down, but she could be a close second place.

"Since I have only ever been home schooled Terry helped me find my way," Darcy explained with a passive voice that made it clear that was all Terry was to her, which made Nelson drop the subject knowing if he dragged forward then he may risk Terry looking like an even bigger hero. The explanation that Darcy gave made a sigh of relief want to rush out of Terry's mouth giving him the notion that he really couldn't predict Darcy's responds to everything because he was so sure she was going to tell the truth that he was being paid to be her body guard by her dad, which he knew Dana wouldn't understand without him explaining the whole bat suit story.

"Darcy do you have afterschool activity picked yet, cause I think you would totally fit in with the cheer group," a girl with strawberry blond hair, blue eyes, and a stunning super model figure, suggested indifferently after taking one glance at Darcy.

"A cheerleader?" Darcy questioned with disbelief as she tried to picture mindlessly chanting cheers in an overly exposing uniform in hope their sport team won. Just thinking about it made Darcy feel like she just lost twenty IQ points, so instead out voicing her problems with cheerleading she was going let down the offer, but before she could open her mouth Carter butted in with encouragement that she should at least try out which got the rest of the popular kids at the table encouraging her onward to take Blade up on her suggestion to the point she agreed out of exasperation that made a teasing smile appear upon Terry's face as he joined in with everyone's cheers that she accepted the offer from the head cheerleader herself. Darcy could hardly believe she was willing to fall into the trap of peer pressure all because of this whole fitting in thing there has to be a less painful way of going about it. For the rest of lunch Darcy vaguely listened to the conversation that was droning on across the table she was too busy trying to think up ways in getting out of the whole cheerleading thing, but as she pondered over her present dilemma she couldn't help noticing Carter taking quick glances at her with a look that made Darcy blush slightly as she wondered why he was staring at her. Before she could begin figuring it out the bell ending lunch rang through the room sending noises of kids moving out in order to get ready for their next class. As the kids from popular table left they uttered byes to Darcy and it was nice to meet you, but the one that Darcy remembered the most was Carter winking at her just before she left with Max to her nuclear physics class.

"It looks like you're interested in the new kid," Garrison pointed out while he walked down the halls with his two best friends Terry and Carter by his side.

"Well, I just figured that if I'm able to score a babe like her I'll become even more popular than Nelson," Carter replied with a snicker as his buddy Garrison gave him a pat on his back as everything came to light to both him and Terry. Carter only wanted Darcy to become a cheerleader to make his score even bigger, which both boys knew would leave the head honcho Nelson biting Carter's dust in the department of voting for prom king and the overall popularity scale. To Garrison this seemed to be fair game after all none of them knew Darcy like Terry did, and as much as Terry would love to see someone put Nelson in his place he couldn't let Carter take advantage of Darcy not because her dad was paying him to look after her, but because somewhere deep down was telling him he couldn't let Carter go through with this no matter how much Darcy disliked or disapproved of him.

"Isn't there another way to put Nelson in his place without taking advantage of Darcy?"

"Not really unless you can find another smoking hot girl with the brains, cash, and now cheerleading status," Carter replied with a smug smile that Terry only saw on his face when he was set out to win a contest with the prize of popularity and Darcy was just his bonus trophy. Terry didn't say another word about the matter after all there was no way with Darcy's attitude could he score her without a serious verbal beating, but then again he better warn her about the cheerleading thing, even though he thought that seeing her in the uniform may give him dirt to dish out at her every now and then when her teasing gets out of hand. Terry spent the remainder of the two periods left in the school day wondering how one of his friends could do something like using Darcy's naivety of high school and people to his advantage, while Darcy was busy filling her boredom of being taught the same thing twice with thoughts of Carter although she didn't know much about him, she was wondering whether it could be possible that Carter liked her and whether she could like him as well, after all with what she gathered he seemed to be a guy that was determined to doing his best in everything he was faced with, which in a way was true. Little did Darcy know that he was willing to play dirty to achieve what he sights set out to conquer.


	3. Cheerleading Tryouts?

The school bell brought joy and satisfaction to all as everyone packed up from their classrooms to ready themselves to leave with their sights set for home at least that was the case for most kids that didn't have cheerleading tryouts after school.

"Are you really going through with this?" Max asked Darcy as she escorted her towards where the gym was located.

"How lame would it look if I bailed?"

"To be honest girl, very," Max answered truthfully as Darcy sighed with a burst of exhaustion and annoyance as she pondered about how many days she had left in the year of this torture just to sink lower in her dislike of high school knowing that the school year wasn't even close to being half way over yet and she already wanted out.

"Good luck in the tryouts," Carter shouted from across the hall as he left with Garrison and a guy named Jackie that Max pointed out to her. Darcy without thinking waved back to him with a slight smile before getting back to her problem in facing the cheerleading tryouts.

"You know if you're really slagging on the whole thing than just look at it this way if you fail you aren't on the squad, but if you make it that doesn't mean you have to cheer with them," Max pointed out as she opened the doors to the gym. Darcy smiled slightly at her friend after all she was right she really didn't need to be a cheerleader especially since that everyone accepted Max and she was nowhere near cheerleading status like the other girls that were sitting at the popular table. Max wished Darcy luck as she walked passed her into a room filled with girls that where the victims gathered by the cheerleading squad to their test qualifications with the queen bees in front of them waiting for all their contestants to show up.

"Here I thought you were going to back down, anyway now that you are all here let's begin," Blade announced as Darcy took a seat on the bleachers with the other potential cheerleaders.

"Listen up girls if you can't do this I suggest you leave now," Chelsea demanded as she did a front hand spring followed effortlessly by a cartwheel that sent her flipping until she reached the end of the long blue mat in front of the girls trying out. With this one performance of cheerleading flexibility and capability sent more than half of the girls walking out of the gym in defeat, which Darcy thought of following but something about the look Blade gave her made her think that she knew more about her than she was letting onto, which was the force keeping her inside the gym to witness more showing off on the cheerleaders part just to eliminate the weak from the start before the tryouts actually began.

"Max, where's Darcy?" Terry asked as he rushed over to where Max was standing next to the gymnasium wondering when Darcy would be done in there. As Terry stopped in front of her she raised an eyebrow questioning why in the world he would he spend so much energy in trying to find the new kid to the point he was frantically trying to gasp for air back in his lungs. Her reaction made Terry sigh as he made her swear not to tell anyone what he was about to tell her, and with that he explained his whole situation involving himself with Darcy that he was helping her dad out around his house as community service instead of doing time for the stun he pulled with his friend Big Time awhile back, and he also explained that due to some circumstances Bruce Wayne hired him to look after Darcy at all times.

"So let me get this straight to rack in the dough to sport your family you agreed to be Darcy's bodyguard?"

"You could say that, but no one else can know so can you do me a favor and keep an eye on her during school hours?"

"Fine but not because you asked, but because Dana's one my good friends and Darcy seems to be an okay girl, friend worthy even. But what I don't get is why your boss man is so worried about a girl like Darcy and why he picked a guy like you to watch over her?"

"Well you'll see why once you know her more and for the employment thing I was kind of the only candidate."

"Understandable but you seemed okay with Darcy trying out at lunch what changed your mind?" Max asked just to be faced with another confidential piece of information that made her roll her eyes as Terry told her about Carter's plan to getting popular the fast way, which caused Max to reveal that Darcy might like him to a degree or at least Max thought she did. The very thought that Darcy may have already fell for his causal flirting worried Terry as he thought of ways to drag Darcy out of the tryouts without revealing to everyone their special arrangement.

"Since there's a possibility that she likes him try to break the news delicately," Max advised as music filled the air from the source of Max's left pants pocket. A sigh stormed out of as she knew that her parents wanted her back home without picking it up so she waved her farewell to Terry before dashing off to the exist of the school. Terry moved out of the way to see more cheerleading rejects filing out just to catch a glimpse of Darcy watching the cheer stunts along with a small hand full of other girls, which only led Terry into deeper thought in how he was going to break it to her that the first guy that she ever may have feelings for was a jerk to a girl who wasn't the most understanding person ever.

"Okay now that we narrowed the crowd down a little let's see what the remaining can do," Blade announced as her and her squad sat down in chairs in front of the mat to evaluate the talent of the remaining girls who they called up by alphabetical order according to the persons last name, which made it clear to Darcy that she was going to be seated on the bleachers for a while as she watched Abigail Anderson do a triple back handspring while concluding with a crowd pleasing splits that granted her a spot on the squad by the way Chelsea handed her a uniform. Darcy was glad that they had gotten rid of a large majority of the girls trying out because if they didn't she would have waited more than thirty minutes before being called up by Blade, who actually deemed her worthy of watching, which puzzled Darcy in the notion that she was wondering whether to be suspicious or flattered that she was worthy of being watched by the all-powerful queen bee. So she decided to do a simple routine of a triple axil handspring to play it safe until she got to the bottom of whatever game Blade was playing. The stunt seemed easy enough to Darcy as she effortlessly completed her flips with perfect form that got every cheerleader gaping at her flexibility and agility, all except Blade that gave her a uniform. Darcy tried to force a smile as she looked at the uniform and knew if she accepted she would be representing everything she wasn't like peppy, superficial, and another drone taking orders from Blade. And there was one thing she knew for sure was that she didn't take orders from no one especially not some high school girl who figured she was all that all because she was pretty and head cheerleader.

"I know you probably consider this an honor, but I don't think cheerleading is my thing," Darcy stated as she pushed away Blade's offer a yellow and black bee cheerleading outfit, which seem to mean so much to the girls around her that all gasp at the mere thought that Darcy was passing up such an opportunity all accept Blade who shrugged off Darcy's rejection to her offer as if she was expecting it.

"I figured as much, you're defiantly not the peppy and pom-poms type. I just offered you the chance to see what you could do and if you actually deserve to be associated with the cool crowd and you passed," Blade concluded with a smile at Darcy who gave her a questioning look before walking out of the gym without looking back at what could have been because Darcy could care less what those girls thought of her, and that was the attitude that intrigued Blade into thinking the gang could use a bad girl after all they already had Terry playing their bad boy with his stunts causing him to be in trouble with the law in more times than any of them could count. Although Blade knew Darcy wasn't going to be the type to get in trouble with the law, it was more of her gloomy presences that warned you to beware of her bad side.

"Slagged you didn't make the cut?" Terry teased as he was content with the fact that Carter's plan was going to fail when everyone spreads the news of what happened at the tryouts around, which to Darcy misfortune may lead to her eating at a different table as him since cheer rejects were considered in the same category as nerds and geeks for a reason unknown to him.

"Why would I? I made the cut with flying colors, I just rejected their offer," Darcy replied simply as they walked out of the school. This piece of news only brought Terry's worry back after all no one has ever made the cheer team and then reject the bee uniform, which meant she'll either be regarded as weird or cool due to the fact she saw herself above the whole cheer scene. Terry was guessing with his luck it was the latter option, which meant if Carter did manage to score her as his girlfriend then he would gain even more popularity just by showing up with her and dumping her in some grand way.

"Darcy what do you think about my friends?"

"What's there to think about? Max's okay I guess."

"How about Carter?" Terry asked just to see Darcy's eyes narrow as the notion went through her that he was trying to imply something she wasn't going like judging by the way his pick of the roundabout approach.

"What are you getting at?" Darcy countered with a sigh as Terry stopped walking just to have her do the same. As Terry hesitated several moments before he came right out and spilled his guts out noting that Carter didn't really suit her anyway and the fact that she shouldn't fall for guys so easily all because they wink at her. The mere thought that Terry was lecturing her about how she lacked of understanding the jungle which was high school as if she was a little kid, pissed her off. There were many things she could handle and being told she had no clue in a matter by someone wasn't one of them especially if it was coming from someone like Terry.

"I don't need your help I can make my own decisions, plus I don't comment on who you like you don't comment on how I run my life."

"You don't understand what you're getting yourself into…plus what's wrong with Dana?" Terry asked just to receive the silent treatment from Darcy who felt that the argument was pointless to continue after all she knew she always gets her way whether Terry approved of her decisions or not. The silence was short lived as an alarm went off from Darcy's backpack that sent her digging through her bag to retrieve her cellphone that had a bat signal flaring across the screen.


	4. An Upsetting Defeat

"You know all because you got saved by your cell phone doesn't mean we're done the conversation," Terry stated as they landed upon the scene that caused Darcy's cellphone to alert them that someone was in trouble just to see a bunch of jokers robbing the Gotham Federal Bank.

"Hey, didn't we already take care of you clowns? But then again some people never learn," Terry commented as they both came up from their hiding place behind the building next to the bank along with Darcy by his side. As soon as they appeared, what look to them as their leader ordered all the clowns to attack Bat Boy while he charged towards Bat Girl. This tactic surprised Darcy as she thought it was too smart for a mere clown to come up with a plan to over whelm Terry who was a strong person but lacking skills in fighting and leaving her to be dealt with by the top clown since he was probably guessing she lacked what Terry had, making up for it with skill. What made Darcy snicker, as she gave him a high kick to his chin that sent him flying back a few yards, was this joker's thought that she would be weak and easy to take down all because she was a girl.

"Your stronger than you look, but I, Terminal, will take care of Gotham's rodent problem once and for all," the clown exclaimed, who Darcy saw was more of a scary ghoul than the rest of the circus freaks around her. He wasn't dressed up in goofy colorful clothing but had painted on scars all over his body. No matter how creepy he was from the rest he was so going down, Darcy thought as he came at her with a side swipe kick that she dodged effortlessly while countering with a powerful kick to his chin that sent a grunt of pain reigning out of his mouth as he ordered his dressed up goons to retreat. Before either of Darcy or Terry could do anything to prevent the clowns from getting away smoke exploded from Terminal's hand and with a blast of green gas both the kids activated the oxygen system in their suits as their suits closed off all the possible entry of the gas to knock them out; however, even with this advantage by the time they put on their heat sensing version all they could see was nothing, and with the smoke clearing to reveal an empty bank parking lot made Darcy curse under her breath as the realization that for the first time they didn't end up getting the bad guy, and just their luck their broken record was due to some punks in clown suits.

"Cheer up Darcy we managed to save the money from the bank," Terry comforted as he held up the bag that the jokers were carrying still stocked to the brim with money. Even with the fact that they saved the cities money the taste of failure left a bitter taste heavily in her mouth, and Terry's encouraging optimism graded at her nerves as she flipped her hair, which smacked him in the face to show him what she really thought of his opinion before taking flight into the air. But just as they were both about to take off someone stepped in front of them from the shadows.

"Who are you two supposed to be and what happened here today?" an old lady with white hair and a brown trench coat demanded as she glared daggers at the two kids who were surprised to see that she figured out their little game of avoiding the police, well Darcy was less surprised as she figured this would happen sooner or later with this exact cop figuring them out.

"Well Hi Commissioner Gordon, long story short I'm Bat Girl this BatMan and we saved the money from getting stolen by the jokers, end of story goodbye," Darcy explained before the police officer could inquire about what happened to the jokers, as she threw down gas balls to cloud the commissioner's sight for them to make their quick getaway. As the smoke cleared a grunt of annoyance escaped the commissioner's mouth as she saw that the two kids were gone.

* * *

"Hello who is speaking?" Bruce asked as he picked up the phone in the bat cave as he went through the possible people who knew the number to this line. He wasn't surprised to hear Barbra's old waspy voice, after all Darcy had already informed him that she got to meet his new team of crime fighters during their getaway, and he only figured that it was a matter of time before he heard her complaints about them.

"What're you thinking Bruce? I thought you weren't going to let anyone else put on the bat suit and the first ones you bend the rules for are your daughter and her boyfriend?"

"Listen Barbra; were you ever able to stop me when I set my mind to do something?"

"No, but that's not the point-"

"Then how do you expect me to stop her, and plus the boy in the bat suit is more of a liability interest than a personal one."

"Do whatever you want it's your conscience not mine."

"Progress report," Bruce ordered as he walked towards where Darcy was cleaning Terry's wounds while making sure she put enough rubbing alcohol to insure that pain was inflected with every stroke.

"A few bruised ribs for me, and a few scratches for him. Isn't that right Cry Baby?" Darcy replied while patting Terry on the back before completing her job of bandaging him up. With that Bruce asked Darcy about her first day of school to receive a shrug from Darcy who went upstairs to reclaim every last second of the night that was dwindling before them into a new day.


	5. A Deadly Test & An Unexpected Kiss

"Man I'm so slagged about the GATT, I didn't study at all," Garrison complained as him Carter, and Terry walked into the school just to see nerds and geeks scurrying through notes as last minute studying for the national GATT test that every high school student around America had to take to increase their chances of getting accepted into the top universities in the world, well only if the marked scored is in the top twenty out of over a million students who were taking the test today. This test was a deadly hard test, which tested both mental fitness and common sense, so as Carter passed all the nerds furiously cramming every bit of knowledge they could get their hands on whether it was from a school text book or the internet he couldn't help but pity them for the very fact that in a test like this no amount of studying could insure top marks; it was pure genius that will insure him a first place in this important test after all there was no doubt that he was number one in the school when it came to test scores and grade point averages.

"Cheer up Garrison; I'm sure the test will be fine."

"Yeah easy for you to say you could ace the test without studying and still make first place. Me on the other hand can only pray for a score higher than zero," Garrison complained with an exasperated sighed as Terry tried to comfort him with a pat on the back while consoling him that he was in the same boat with the lack of studying and brains to get a good mark on the test.

"Speaking of first place I think our boy Carter might have to fight for that title," Nelson stated as he broke into their conversation with an annoying smug face. The very statement caused Carter to boil with anger that he suppressed with all his might while planed Nelson's down fall. It puzzled the three boys how Nelson could even consider them as his friends especially with the awkwardly cold mood he brought to the air, and the only reason they had to except his pompous filled attitude was because he was the boyfriend of the most popular girl in the school, Blade, and it also helped that he was the captain of the air hockey team. The questioning look from Carter encouraged Nelson to explain himself by pointing at Darcy who was walking up the hall with Max heading towards them with the same destination in mind as the boys, the examination room. Carter gave Nelson an annoyed glare as he tried not to let Nelson's teasing get under his skin after all he knew Darcy was smarter than the average kid, and sure she was acing all her advance classes but he could tell that she wouldn't be able to touch a kid like him not after he spent his whole life being trained to be the best by his dad.

"Hey Darcy, are you ready for the GATT test?"

"You mean that's today?" Darcy answered absent mindedly as Max rolled her eyes with pity as she reminded Darcy that she told her all about it a month ago wanting to be friendly by giving her new friend the heads up about the test so she could start studying for it along with the rest of the student body at Hamilton Hill High.

"Well join the party," Terry stated as he explained that neither him nor Garrison remembered to study for the test either. As much as Darcy hated to be put into the same category as Terry she didn't have time to reply to him with a witty insult she was too busy thinking about Carter who now had his arm around her waist as if by some unwritten code she was his property despite her better judgment she allowed this slight gesture of male dominance over her only because she was enjoying pissing off Terry.

"Careful Terry, your face might get stuck that way, then what will Dana do?" Darcy teased as she cracked a dazzling smile at Terry, which was filled with amusement that everyone part took in as their attention was draw upon Terry's glaring face as he looked on at Darcy and Carter with disapproval written across his face.

"Speaking of girlfriends, here comes yours right now," Max contributed to Darcy's teasing, which only directed Terry's anger at her that he made quite clear by staring daggers at her as he hugged his girlfriend in greeting. While everyone made their ways into the examination room without another word because as soon as you walk in it was law that if the stickler of a teacher, Mr. Creager, heard even a whisper you would get an automatic zero on the test. What set Terry's nerves on end was how close Darcy was letting a guy like Carter get to her especially after he saw him whisper good luck so close to her ear that Terry could swear Carter's lips had brushed against Darcy's ear, which he of all people expected her to push Carter away after all Darcy wasn't exactly a people person. It shouldn't be that easy to sneak passed her defenses mainly since he had already warned her of his hidden agenda, he thought as he racked his brain trying to think of the game she was trying to play by letting Carter have his way with her. Terry knew it wasn't only Darcy he had to think about it was Max as well after all she knew about Carter and his plan to use Darcy, so why was she encouraging Darcy's behavior? If anything she was probably the only one who could actually stop Darcy being her best friend and usually girls from what he could gather generally go after guys their friends approve of. All this flow through his mind as Mr. Creager passed out the GATT test and announced that the students had two hours and could leave at any time after completion of the test that were to begin that very moment. For many kids this test left them sweating, second guessing themselves, and crying tears of pain as the advance intellectual questions overwhelmed those who tried to figure them out not knowing how to solve the questions. But for a small hand full many of them were able to work out the answers to each question some with racking their brains others with ease as if they have been ready for this test since birth. Knowing the intense level of difficulty the test held for many, you could guess at everyone's surprised after thirty minutes of working on a hundred questioned test that Darcy would stand up in front of the teacher's desk in the massive room with desks and chairs filling it up to drop her test in front of him.

"Are you sure you're done with this, Ms. Wayne? I know you have a clear future, but needless to say this is still a very important test," Mr. Creager lectured as he picked up Darcy's test to look over it to at least see if she forgot a page or left any questions on the multiple question sheet uncolored in, but as he saw everything accounted for and even work for all hundred questions he sighed knowing deep down that she at least tried each question even though he couldn't tell if her answers were right, for his profession had nothing to do with academics with him being a gym teacher and coach for both the wrestling and hockey team.

"Well you did say we could leave anytime, and I'm clearly done," Darcy replied indifferently as she walked out of the dead silent room leaving the teacher shrugging as he filed her test in an envelope he would soon send to the institute that created the test while the kids gawked at her in amazement some thinking she was stupide for handing in her test so early and others were marveling at her brilliance. For Terry he merely whacked his hand on his forehead with annoyance knowing if Darcy actually managed to get the score he was predicting there was no way anyone was going to see her as a normal teen, which puzzled him further because last time he check she just wanted to fit in and be accepted by the kids here, but now he didn't know whether her bad attitude about everything was enough to be able to keep her in his circle of friends and not degraded as a nerd, a social outcast.

Thinking back on the test Darcy was surprised she was the first one finished after all she did each question three times with all the methods she knew how to solve the questions. As she sat outside the school she couldn't help but feel like she had made a mistake in her choice of getting out of the exam room early, but in the end she end up blaming her dad for waking her up at an obscene hour of the night to take care of a Gotham store that was being rubbed by common thieves. Even though Darcy was sure the police could have taken care of scum like them, but wearing the suit wasn't just a fantasy for her anymore and she intended to take her new job seriously no matter how small the crime was. A part of her wished that she could ignore the crimes done at three o'clock in morning with the reason that she wasn't the happiest person to be around when she didn't have enough time to sleep especially when she had to waste precious sleeping hours during the day at school.

It felt like decades to Darcy before she saw another kid existing out of the exam room and to her expectancy it was Carter who made his way towards Darcy with a confident smile as if he just gotten through the easiest exam in his life. Darcy waved towards him, which he took as an unwritten invitation to come sit next to her, when Darcy just meant it as a simple gesture to try and lower him into a trap, so she could assess him to prove to herself what this boy really wanted from her: simple teen romantics or Terry's warning in using her to further his popularity status.

"So was it easy or hard? But then again you probably don't care how you did, huhn?" Carter asked while sitting down comfortably next to Darcy doing the classic guy move by wrapping his arm around her and placing his hand firmly on her shoulder, which Darcy concluded was another sign he was sending to her that he wanted her to think of him a little more than people who knew each other all because they have common friends.

"I don't rely on my dad's prestige, money or my birth right, and it bugs me that people think that."

"Understandable, what kid wants to be overshadowed by their parents," Carter agreed with her trying to bring her out of the shell that protected her from the rest of the world from penetrating to see what this girl was really about, and he knew he could do it after all there wasn't a girl he has met that hasn't fell head over heels for him. With his comment Darcy forced a dazzling smile that was filled with warmth, which caught Carter off guard since she didn't seem like the type of person who would show such an expression so easily, but as he thought more about it as Darcy went on to tell him a made up story about her life at home he figured that this was probably the first time she was actually letting someone see what was on the inside. For the first time since he met her he started to see a real person not just a new person he saw as an innocent hot girl he could easily claim; he felt for her as she told him about how hard her dad took her mom's death that he kept her in hiding to keep her safe from the world while he clouded his sorrow within his work neglecting her for years.

"I don't know if it means anything to you, but I bet your father meant well," Carter commented as he caressed Darcy's cheek, which made her wince slightly not really knowing whether to slap him for thinking that he had a right to touch her or continue to go with the flow and act like the innocent angel he mistakenly thought she was, but in the end she flowed with her act by inducing a blush upon her face to better make it believable that she was feeling the none existing bond between them.

"I know, but sometimes I wonder what I would be like if I grew up, normal, you know. Play in the playground, being with a mom and dad that is always there for you, and going to school; I've missed a lot of things there's so much I want to experience."

"Maybe I can help with that," Carter whispered so low he was only audible to Darcy who was stunned to her very core what he meant about helping her experience something she had missed because of her depressing childhood. He slowly moved closer to her lips to the point Darcy started to panic she had no clue what was happening and how to stop him as she grew closer and closer into uncharted territory she didn't want to cross at least not yet, not with this guy.

"Hey…am I interrupting something?" Terry asked with venom that sprung Carter off Darcy in a blink of an eye before his lips could make her officially his, which made a curse mutter out of his mouth as he forced a smiled up at Terry wondering what was so important that he was willing to interrupt a friend's moment.

"You've got bad timing McGinnis," Carter stated as it dawned on him that he purposely stepped in between them before he could really reach towards her all because he disapproved of him liking Darcy for the soul reason of putting Nelson in his place, but as he stood there facing in front of Terry he stood there with confidence in that he wasn't on the verge of fighting the lose canon because he destroyed a perfect moment to advance his plans, but because he actually felt something for her, something that made him want to protect her, something that made him see her as a damsel in distress just waiting for the right guy to sweep her off her feet. A guy he proclaimed was him.

"Sorry Carter, I've got a huge book report due soon and Terry promised to show me where the library is," Darcy broke in before the guys could register what kind of attack they were going to inflict on the other. At first Terry just stared at her as if she was crazy if she was expecting him to get her out of this one, and he probably wouldn't have if it weren't for the fact that her dad was paying him to put up with her crazy stunts and rude nature. Soon they were both walking away from Carter as Darcy predicted a tongue slashing from Terry as her punishment, which for once in her life she agreed that she deserved especially with what almost happened.

"I don't get you at all you act as if no one matters, but when it comes to some guy your ready roll out the welcome mat for him, huhn?" Terry demanded quietly as he sat in front of Darcy reading a book on mythology. At first Darcy didn't reply with the reason she had no clue how to justify herself in a way that Terry would full understand and in the end it left her pondering what was Terry gaining by taking this matter so deeply after all by the way she treats him, he shouldn't be this concerned with her not with the fact that he would love to see her get humiliated due to the way she treated him. Then within that moment everything was suddenly clear to her Terry wouldn't even care if it weren't for the large wads of cash her dad was throwing at him, and for some reason as the truth dawned on her she felt a growing turmoil blazing within her.

"I don't need to answer to you, so spare me the lecture," Darcy hissed at him without looking up from her book, which only added to the fuming fire burning up inside of Terry as he could hardly believe he was getting this attitude from her especially after he just saved her from making one of the biggest mistakes of her life, and this was thanks he gets for caring, for making sure her dad didn't have to worry about her.

"Listen I'm just trying to help so that-"

"You can continue to make quick money?" Darcy guessed while getting up to walk away wondering why it hurt so much to know he wasn't watching over her on his own free will.


	6. An Unfortunately Good Grade

It is another day in the city of Gotham one that will be soon filled with both emotions of glorious victory and an order of bitterly devastating failure for all students around America especially in Gotham, and more importantly at Hamilton Hill High School. For one student she didn't enter the school with excitement of hopeful optimistic victory nor of depressing anticipation of failure she could barely care less what the results were after all she had nothing to lose or gain from the test, plus she rather not see it not with the fact that she did the test with eyes being weighed down by drowse haze due to her lack of sleep. When a group of Terry's friends and Max cornered her in front of her locker she didn't even need to look at them before she knew why they all took time to gather at her locker with the only conclusion that the results of the GATT were in.

"Darcy, you look slagged is it about the GATT test?" Chelsea questioned as Darcy looked up at them with an expression that made it really clear to them that she was indifferent about whatever they were going to ask her to do and not to expect much from her. Darcy shrugged her shoulders as she slammed her locker shut with an advance mathematical statics text book in her hands and a destination of the math room in mind; however, Carter trapped her with putting his arm over her shoulder with a smug look on his face as Terry frowned in disapproval, while Carter asked Darcy to come with them to check out the scores as a sort of friendly support for those within the group who crashed and burned during the test. After some convincing from Chelsea, Blade, and Max, Darcy caved in and followed her friends towards the entrance of the examination room to find a huge score sheet that compared every student's score to those all around America, so seeing the huge crowd of kids desperately trying to find where they ranked due to how well they did on the test didn't surprise Darcy, but what did was how all it took was Nelson to clear his throat to have every kid around the results to stop what they were doing and immediately make room for them. The sight made Darcy want to yell at them after all they had no obligation to do what Nelson commanded and frankly it would probably do both Nelson and the rest of the world good if those kids grew back bones so they wouldn't end up stroking his ego to the point he acted like a pompous, snobby, and arrogant punk that Darcy was still itching to smack some sense into.

"How in the world are we going to find all of our test marks?" Chelsea asked as she stared at the great magnitude of the giant score sheet that reached from the top of the wall to nearly draping onto the floor with its massive size that almost completely covered the yellowish white paint of the wall.

"Well, that's easy for people like us it'll be easier starting from the bottom and working our way up; however, for people like Darcy all they have to do is look up," a kid, Max introduced to Darcy as Howard Groote, with brown hair, freckles, small brown eyes, and quit a plump stature who wore a blue astronaut fashioned shirt and black sweatpants, acknowledged while directing everyone's attention to the very top of the score sheet to see Darcy Wayne written in uppercase bold black letters with a score of a hundred percent. The very sight made everyone look as if they wanted to gasp with shock at the very fact that Darcy not only claimed a hundred percent on the test, but also the highest score ever recorded for the test along with the fast time ever completed. But out of everyone Carter was the most lost for words as he saw his name right under Darcy's with a score of ninety five. Even though many students would've killed for the honor of being ranked second along with the handsome score of ninety five; however, the very sight enraged Carter, the sight of his name not first place, him failing to achieve number one on a test he has been studying for his whole life. The worst part about it was the fact that Darcy just showed up for the test totally unprepared and didn't even care about the test or need to take it after all she was a rich heiress to Wayne Enterprises the biggest most successful company in all of America. With all that Carter couldn't believe his luck that a girl who had everything still managed to steal everything from him his rightful place as number one, his title of the student who could do it all, and most importantly popularity after all with this accomplishment her status will reign over his. Suddenly all the feelings he had accumulated for her even if they were small and strictly due to him pitying her and her sad life went up in smokes. There was no way he could ever even consider dating her now not when vengeance filled his head and he knew exactly how to achieve it.

"Well I guess you were right Nelson," Garrison stated as he looked at the marks and whistled with amazement as he gave Darcy a pat on the back with a warm smile to congratulate her. With Garrison's gesture led to the rest of her friends congratulating her and cheering her on for her achievement and even Carter manage to crack a smile so no one could see his true emotions of disappointment, rage, and great jealousy pointing towards Darcy.

"Terry why is your name with the people who failed due to in-completing the test?" Dana asked with a teasing stern face that made Terry laugh nervously as he answered that he really needed to use the washroom during the test; however, both Darcy and him knew it was a lie, a good lie, but a lie nonetheless. He passed in his test early in order to spy on her and Carter, which made Darcy slightly irritated because she hated the whole idea of having some watching her every move, but in the end she found it hard to stay mad at him after all he did save her from Carter when she blanked at the idea he was actually trying to kiss her. Soon they found the rest of the gangs' names with most of their rankings being extremely low with Terry's being the worst and Max's being the best with a solid eighty five percent and a ranking of tenth in the country. All through the day Darcy heard congratulations from everyone she came across, but the worst part of the day was when Principal Nakamura called a sudden assembly in her honor just to talk on and on about how glad he was to have such bright people attending his school while giving out meddles to Darcy and Carter, and Max got a ribbon for her placing. All the attention Darcy was getting bugged her after all she wasn't used to being praised for the things she did right especially from her dad; all the fuss about her achievement reminded her too much of Alfred who would hold celebrations in her name with just her and him for the things she worked hard to achieve like perfect marks on all of his tests. But Darcy wasn't the only one hating the attention she was receiving Carter could hardly contain his anger as he walked through the halls hearing people gossiping about how great Darcy was and how she was the perfect package of both having everything and being able to do anything; as classes were clearing for the day Carter took out his cell phone as he slipped into the silence and seclusion of the lunch room to make his phone call.

"Hey boss what's up?"

"Listen get the others and meet me at Hamilton Hill High School at five, there's been a change of plan," Carter ordered just to receive an accepting answer from his joker lackey as he walked out of the lunch room to say goodbye to his friends and then set his plan into motion.

As Darcy walked into the fresh breeze of coming out of the exist to the school building she felt like she could finally breath with freedom from everyone's over baring praising and fussing over something she didn't even give that much effort into. Her relieved mood took a three-sixty degree turn as Terry came up from behind her after seeing his girlfriend of before preforming his duty to walk her home every day.

"You must love getting all that attention and praise for barely breaking a sweat on that test," Terry asked his question in the form of a statement that made Darcy raise an eye brow at him knowing that he was mocking her for out classing everyone in the country and not having the guts to take the consequences for her actions. Darcy just glared up at him with a death threat written in her eyes to silence him for the rest of the walk home. They found Bruce Wayne seated comfortably on a couch in the living room awaiting their arrival with a laptop on his lap with important data dealing with Wayne Enterprises.

"Anything interesting happen at school today," Bruce asked indifferently while still concentrating on the monitor in front of him as they both walked into the room. Not seeing a reason to tell her dad about the GATT results since she didn't really care for the test in the first place and the fact she put no effort into writing the test, Darcy merely shrugged to answer her dad's question after all she never thought anything interesting ever occurred in school and her ranking first in the country on a test fell under that category. With an exasperated sigh he looked to Terry to get the information he wanted to hear knowing that his daughter wasn't like normal children who would have rushed home to their parents with the mark she had scored expecting everything from a celebration to a car from their parents. For a good long moment Terry didn't say a word as he was silenced by confliction as Bruce glanced at him expecting him to answer his question while Darcy glared wholes into him with more silent threats not to talk about her test results, but in the end Bruce won in their battle for Terry's obedience and Terry told Bruce all about her score on the GATT test and the meddle she received from the principal.

"Really Dad, why ask and demand an answer to a question you already knew the answer to."

"Well even with the call from the school I still wanted to hear the news from you."

"What difference does it make," Darcy stated just to cock her head to the side with curiosity as a small grin appeared upon her dad's face with a finger pointed towards the window, and for a split second Darcy's expectations raised a level well at least until she looked at the back yard to see a motorcycle parked next to her dad's garden. A quiet sigh escaped her mouth as she thanked her dad with sarcasm edging in her tone as she looked at another material possession that her dad probably didn't even think more than a second to buy it for her. Darcy didn't want a half assed present that had no thought going into it after all she loved motor cycles as much as the next person, but she rather something that had her dad's full heart in it not something that he felt he had to buy to clear his conscience of being a bad father.

"Well that was some reaction. You know all because you don't like it doesn't mean you have to be rude about it," Terry scolded her once again this week, and once again this week he was smacked in the face with Darcy's overly long black hair that she always kept in a pony-tail as she existed the room in a dramatic fashion. Bruce just snickered as he warned Terry that he couldn't talk to Darcy like that unless he liked being constantly abused by her. "Thanks for the advice, but why do you let her get away with taking kind gestures and shoving them back in someone's face?"

"That's because I have known Darcy long enough to know that it's not the present she's has a problem it's me."

"How can you tell?"

"Easy if she hated the bike she wouldn't have thanked me whether sincerely or not, she would have insulted it then storm off. Whatever her problem is she'll tell me soon enough. Anyway speaking of presents here's yours," Bruce said while handing Terry a list of house choirs before getting back to his work purposely ignoring Terry's groan of lack of enthusiasm for doing choirs like cleaning the toilet and walking Ace, which he was pretty sure still sees him as an intruder in their house. Knowing he wasn't going to get any sympathy from any of the Waynes he sucked up all his complaints and got to work with doing pretty well with the cleaning of the house until he got to the last part of his list that always proves more life threatening than his night job as Batman: walking Ace. After walking him around the block he arrived back at the house with his clothes all ripped knowing that his mom was so going to kill him for ruining his hundredth pair of jeans and shirt, with a relieved sigh he dropped Bruce's to do list with all the duties checked off before heading out of the Wayne Mansion. Right as he was about to walk out of his torture chamber in the freedom of the night he feels a tug on a loose part of the back of his black shirt, which made him turn around to find Darcy behind him while pointing to her cell phone that was calling for them to preform one more duty tonight. The warning signal brought them to their surprise back to school. As both of them approached the school slowly and quietly they passed by a whole flock of motorcycles with the joker symbol of a generic picture of a circus clown this encored the question that sprang into their minds was what in the world would a bunch of clowns want with their school? They found the doors to the school smashed open with a violent plan to get into the school, as they walked into the dark black halls of their normally crowd school with students. Both Darcy and Terry didn't get far into their investigation before the joker attack begun, or at least Darcy figured it was all their doing that all the electrical equipment in the school was trying to kill them as a diversion from finding out what the clowns were really up to. Darcy found herself smiling as she blew up a vacuum cleaner with an explosive bat dart because she knew whoever was controlling the schools electronics was in the power room, and she was betting if they managed to avoid getting ripped to shreds by the lawn robots that they would catch their clowns, Terminal and his gang. To defeat the wild blades of the lawn robots Darcy led Terry through her plan that involved them cutting the power sources of the robots before they shredded a couple of bats. Once they got the hang of dodging dangerous gardening tools and aiming their bat darts at the power cords that gave them life they were soon able to begin paving a path towards the power room where Darcy hoped they would get to fix their clown problem.

"Hey Terminal, hurry up I don't know how much longer we can keep the bats occupied," one of Terminal's lackeys reported as he typed desperately on the principal's computer trying to hack into the GATT network to change his mark and notify them that there was a mistake that Darcy cheated on the test; however, with the high performance fire walls they had protecting their system proved to give the boy who believed he could do anything some difficulties, but as time ticked by with racking his brain with passwords and override codes it soon dawned on him that there was no way he could get away with the hack or if he continued his plot with Batman and Bat Girl a couple of robots away from out witting his distraction from what he was doing, so he decided to order for a retreat and after the beating his joker gang received from the bat team they were more than happy to follow that order especially with them closing in on them. They managed to escape both Darcy and Terry's clutches of justice once again by existing the school by the windows in both the power room and the principal's office to ride off into the oblivion of the night that hide them in the darkness as they laughed to symbolized another victory they had over the bats, but as the jokers rejoiced over not being thrown in the slammer by the bat crime fighters Terminal was brewing up a wickedly dreadful plan that involved getting rid of Darcy Wayne, the girl who had everything he always wanted, permanently.

"I can't believe those clowns escaped again," Darcy hissed as they managed to defeat all the gardening robots to find the power room empty with the obvious rout of exist that the clowns took being the opened windows that were smashed to allow for an easy get away.

"Well they couldn't have just decided to mess with the tech system, not with the fact there isn't anyone to prank in here."

"But us, they were using all of this as a decoy, but now the question is what for?" Darcy explained as they both decided to split up and search the school for any possible clues such as broken equipment, missing things, and anything that looked tampered with. It didn't take long for them to meet up at the same place as they followed the mindless graffiti done by the jokers all leading to one place and that was the principal office where they also found the windows bashed in for the sole purpose of the jokers get away. Darcy immediately went to the principal's computer while ordering Terry to look around the office to see if anything was stolen from it, but after a couple of minutes Darcy knew whatever the jokers broke in to the school to do it was connect to something on Principal Nakamura's computer. Whoever was in here tampering with the computer definitely didn't want them finding out by the way Darcy found a virus that was preventing her from turning on the computer, but it didn't really bother her that much after all she needed was to plug in her cell phone into the computer to send an anti-computer virus to delete the problem with the computer, where Darcy found an online failed hacking attempt on the GATT network along with her file opened up in the students directory. What she found left her with an eye brow raised her eyes narrowing in thought as she carefully pieced the puzzle together in her head to come up with the possible suspects with Carter Wilson on the top of her list as she used the computer to look up the honor role at the school that only consisted of Carter, Max, Howard, and rest of the nerd population. She knew that most probable culprit had to be Carter after all it added up with the fact that he was the type who had a big ego that only allowed him to believe that he was the best in everything and from the information she gathered from the computer in the bat cave he was city state champion in four different sports of basketball, soccer, tennis, and golf and he has been on the top of the honor roll list ever since he enrolled at Hamilton Hill High, and everyone in his family who have taken the test has arrived number one in the country in there year. It had to be hard to go home with that type of pressure to be the best with only second place, so Darcy could see him trying to take revenge on her who burst his ego by effortlessly scoring higher than he did on the test. The only question that was left was what were the clowns' role in Carter's whole scheme? Darcy pondered the answer to the question until the late hours in the night; it was almost sunrise when she retired to her bed with two conclusions that by coincidence Carter managed to hire the same clown group that they were trying to catch for almost robbing the federal bank or he was one of them using his gang to help him dish out his revenge upon her.


	7. Near Death & Another Unexpected Kiss

The next day while everyone was shocked and devastated at the mess left by the jokers, for Darcy, she was clouded with thoughts of Carter and how he was related to the jokers breaking into the school to be concerned about the gasps of mortified students and teachers. She knew that there was no way the jokers could be smart enough to be able to install a level five damaging computer virus on the principal's laptop, so Carter either had to have been with them last night on the principal's computer while his pals distracted her and Terry with deadly gardening tools or he figured out a way like a pen drive that would allow them to easily download the virus so Carter wouldn't have to get his hands dirty and all he had to do was pay them after the deed was done. Darcy as the day went by leaned more to the side that Carter had to have been there last after all she doubt any of the idiot clowns knew a thing about how to hack into a government funded organization for developing young minds.

"Hi Max, where's Darcy?" Terry asked as he expected that Darcy would be with Max after all she was the only one in the school she could stand more than just a little, which was why he came to her first because ever since he left Darcy with her on her first day of school she been glued to Max.

"No not really, she's been in her own world all day."

"While we're on the subject why were you encouraging Darcy when she was with Carter when you know what he's trying to do?" Terry demanded as they walked through the clearing school with the school day at an end looking for Darcy so that Terry could walk her home.

"Really Terry, an idiot could've seen she never liked him in the first place she only did half that stuff with Carter partly to drive you crazy and she wanted to figure out for herself what the boy was all about," Max explained not knowing how much of her words hit him in the gut as he looked back to all the things he told her about the subject of her and Carter. Maybe Mr. Wayne was right he should look more into Darcy's actions and the words that came out of her mouth to decipher what was going on in her head, and most of all he should probably stop talking to her like a child being scolded by an authority figure for two reasons he wanted Darcy to see him like she saw Max as a friend she could tell anything to and because he was sick of getting the whip lash of her hair every time he uttered something to piss her off. It was way after school hours when they finally found her comfortably seating in the library researching information. As Darcy saw them coming up behind her from the corner of her eye she casually yet quickly switched her saver that was looking up information on the joker gang to a research topic of Julius Caesar the play written by William Shakespeare for her English book report that was due within a week.

"You know if you were going to start your book report you could've given me the heads up," Terry complained as he folded his arms with an annoyed look on his face as Darcy turned off the computer and got up to face them with a shrug before walking out with Terry fuming at her reaction and Max quietly laughing to herself with the funny sight of how they reacted to each other reminded her of one those funny family shows with the cold witted wife and the whipped husband that can't leave his wife alone no matter how much she abused him.

"I'll be back in a couple of moments," Darcy declared without any further information or even an answer from Max or Terry before she was walking off in the direction towards the lockers. Terry didn't like her attitude about asking them to wait up for her, but Max stopped him before he could put his feet in his mouth again and whispered to calm down as she explained that Darcy was probably going to get her stuff from her locker. Little did Max know Darcy had her sights set on the computer lab rather than her locker to continue her search about the joker gang. She needed more information than the crappy facts she found on the internet that described the jokers as a senseless gang of clowns with the sole purpose of playing pranks on the citizens of Gotham and other things like that, in which had nothing to do with how the clowns were related to Carter's scheme to alter her GATT mark. On her way to her locker she made a turn that brought her in front of the computer lab, just the place she needed to continue her search for clues that will crack the mystery of Carter Wilson. As she searched she couldn't help but feel that she was being watched, which instinctively put her nerves on end, but she continued her search convincing herself that it was just her imagination or Terry spying on her either way both were harmless and wasn't worth her time. Her heart started racing as the creepy trademark joker laugh filled the air, even though she didn't look startled on the outside as she looked around at every corner to find the source of her least favorite noise in the world, she could feel the hairs on the back of her neck raise along with her nerves. She ended her search when the laughing became louder and more unbearable to stand so she ran out into the hallway just to be underwhelmed by seeing jokers slowly surrounding her as their eerie laughter grinded at her nerves. The very scene before Darcy was something out of one of her worst nightmares although those were generally with the real Joker himself the one that her dad spent years fighting and saving Gotham from suffering his sadistic humor.

"Oh look what have we here guys? It looks like we have a scared little girl who thinks she so perfect," the clown Darcy fought at the federal bank named Terminal taunted as the circle of clowns broke to let him through as if he was the head clown who controlled this group. Seeing all this made a light bulb in Darcy's brain light up as she thought back to the first time she fought Terminal she knew he was smarter than the average clown, which fit Carter perfectly after all he had the brains to uphold permanent leadership over his gang, come up with the plans that have been able to allow him and his friends to evade her and Terry, the motivation to suddenly switch his plans from bank heists to bothering her for his revenge, and since he was leader he got his gang to distract them so he could reclaim what he deemed was rightfully his.

"Excuse me do I know you?" Darcy asked playing dumb guessing he probably hadn't figured out her secret night job yet, which was relieving to Darcy but it also meant that she couldn't go all Bat Girl on their butts; she had to act like her normal self the only side of her life that Carter has ever seen: her weak and defenseless new girl act. Knowing this made annoyance boil up in her as she knew whatever he was planning for her in his twisted mind he could probably get away with it, which was not how she wanted to spend her Thursday night.

"No, but you will, after tonight you're going to wish you were never born."

"Well it's too late for that," Darcy retorted with a smug face that infuriated Terminal to his very core as he only saw that she was looking down on him as if she was rubbing all her greatness, all the things he ever wanted that she processed in his face. A malice smile crept across his face baring another gut wrenching laugh that made the smugness on Darcy face turn into one of seriousness as she was anticipating that it was getting to the part where she figures out what nasty revenge Carter had in mind. With a single hand gesture of snapping his fingers set his juicy scheme into place as his gang charged at Darcy swinging punches and kicks towards her, and even though she dodged many of their blows after a while one of the larger jokers grabbed onto her waist and slammed her down onto the ground where her torture really begun. Darcy quietly took the beating only letting heavy grunts of pain utter out of her mouth as a lurching pain exploded from every kick, every punch that was landed upon her body. Soon her body became numb with an explosive pain that kept on pulsing through her body as the damage done to her resulted in her chucking up blood as the chuckles of her tormentors reigned throughout both the air and her mind even though this nightmare didn't have the Joker himself popping up this by far topped whatever she could ever dream up.

"Oh little miss perfect doesn't look so good I think she's had enough. So what do you say? Have you had enough, to be put out of your misery?" Terminal taunted with a look of cheer pleasure plastered across his face; however, all that went away when he saw a smirk appear on Darcy's face right before she spat blood in his face as an answer to his question. "Continue guys we haven't broken her yet," Terminal ordered with fury spiked into his voice as the beating once again fell upon Darcy as she bared with the pain not wanting to give Carter the satisfaction of seeing her in the actual pain his goons were inflicting upon her.

"How long does it take to get your stuff?" Terry complained as he looked at his watch to see that Darcy had been gone for more than an hour. By now his patience was thinner than thread as both him and Max waited near the exit of the school building for her.

"Cool it Terry, whatever's keeping her I'm sure she has a perfectly good reason for it, after all she's one girl who always has a purpose for everything."

"Oh really, I bet she's already home by now. She's someone who only cares for herself."

"Listen to your self honestly, why don't we just go looking for her before you begin to read her, her rights…" she broke off as the music burst into the air from her cellphone brought a sigh out of her mouth. "Correction you have to go look for her, anyway fill me in tomorrow," Max bided farewell as she made a dash for the exit door before disappearing into the night. Terry sighed as he figured if anyone knew what Darcy was doing right now was Max, he ended up jogging quietly towards the direction that Darcy had left in just to hear voices growing closer as he went through the hallway with Darcy locker among the rows of green lockers in the darkness. He rounded a corner slowly just to see a sight that made his fist clench up in rage as he saw a bunch of jokers pounding on Darcy. He suddenly felt like an idiot again for judging Darcy wrongly for the hundredth time since he has met her, but today as he put on his bat suit he swore that he was going to make it up to her.

"Guy's stop I know she's had enough now, but you can't fade just yet the main event is about to begin," Terminal hissed as he stomped a foot on Darcy's stomach while pointing a gun at Darcy head. The sight of a gun pointed point blank at her alarmed Darcy and she could tell Carter could read her horror on her face, but despite the life threatening situation she was in she couldn't help see the irony in all this after all here was the boy who almost kissed her earlier this week now pointing a gun at her head for a deadly revenge. She knew Carter had issues with her she won first place on a test she wish she had left blank right about now, but she could have never foreseen he would go this far all because of some stupid test that he did amazing on.

"You…don't…want…to…do this," Darcy stammered weakly as she tried to gasp for air as Carter put more pressure crashing her lungs to silenced her as his finger slightly pulled back the trigger.

"I'm merely doing the world a favor Darcy, getting rid of people like you," Terminal snarled as he pulled back the trigger filling the air with a deifying blast and a yell of a crippling pain as Terry smashes Terminal's head into the floor of the hallway making his blood fly into the air upon impact with his face to the ground. It was a blind fury that drove Terry as he brought each and every clown to his knees the very thought that these jokers would actually attempt to kill Darcy. As he was walking towards Darcy to determine the damage that was inflicted upon her a joker grabbed his leg causing him to fall onto Darcy. He opened his eyes after blanking out for a second upon impact to come face to face with Darcy to see her blue eyes wildly looking up at him with a shocked that left her speechless not because the boy she goes out of her way to torment was here kissing her, but because she didn't feel the urge to push him way even if she had the power to, in a phrase she didn't hate it but kind of liked it. It wasn't like Carter trying to kiss her this felt entirely different and for the first time in her life she didn't have the answer for the feeling she was feeling as her heart sped forward skipping beats causing a fluttering feeling that overwhelmed her leaving her cheeks scorching red.

"What…just…happened" Darcy chocked out with a slight smile just to hear Terry apologize while making her promise never to tell a soul not her dad or anyone at school, which snapped Darcy out of her dreamland as she promised Terry. Even though Darcy knew that there was no way she could ever like Terry and the fact that he already had a girlfriend didn't help the case either, but she couldn't help but feel a bit of sadness as Terry helped her out of the school as the police arrested and identified all the clowns. Terry could hardly believe it was Carter who was behind this plot of revenge all along and he especially couldn't believe that him of all people would try to kill Darcy all because of a stupid test, but then again in the city Gotham anything can happen and all should expect the unexpected and be prepared to see even the scariest of horrors.


	8. Epilogue

With the clown dealt with the students and teachers awoke the next day to the bloody mess that they pounded out of Darcy dried up in front of the computer lab and police reports to inform them what went down in the school last night. The great scandal sent whispers of rumors throughout the student body about what Carter could have possibly done to Darcy who the police said was working late on an English report when she was attack by the jokers led by Carter to get revenge on her for making a higher score then him on the GATT test.

"Oh my gosh Darcy are the rumors true?" Chelsea squealed as she came running up to Darcy with a crowd of cheerleaders behind her wanting to know the truth about what happened last night. Darcy raised an eye brow at them as she thought about how really stupid her question as she had bandages on her face along with more under her clothing to cover the deep bruising and broken ribs inflicted by the clowns and she still was asking her if the rumors where true. With a nod she figured it was enough to answer all their questions but on the contrary it only opened a door for more questions.

"Hey ladies, I heard Ms. Herring talking in the teacher's lounge and it looks like she's planning a pop quiz for all her classes."

"What no way! Thanks for the heads up Terry," Chelsea thanked as all her cheerleading drones scurried off with her to hit the books, so they could please their parents with at least a mark a little above below average.

"Thanks," Darcy hesitantly spoke as they were left standing in the hallway next to where the whole scene went down last night.

"Don't mention it, so how did your dad take it?"

"Honestly he's still flipping especially because of the whole gun thing. He has huge issues with them," Darcy admitted as they walked by the dry blood and the bullet still wedged into the ceiling on top of the nightmarish scene. Deep down they both knew it wasn't just her dad who had issues with what went down. Terry could still see the picture of Darcy's blood drained face while shaking in fear with a face trying desperately to remain indifferent as the bullet got closer to killing her. With this event even the light of a new day couldn't fix the lives of the people that this mess affected, for the hockey team they lost a good player, the school lost a long time member of their honor roll, and many students missing a friend due to his oversized ego, and for Darcy an experience she soon won't forget.

**The End**


End file.
